Vail Valley Voices: Something smells here

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There are several activities that are questionable in determining their effect on the United States, whether the activity is a threat to the country or an activity of politics.

It is important enough to explore some of the examples.

One example of a cover-up is the follow-up about the murder of the U.S ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

The word is that the CIA, the FBI, the State Department and, yes, President Obama and the White House staff all knew what happened in Benghazi within 24 hours of the incident.

The cover-up is about who knew what and when. An important part of the problem is who gave the order to not send help to the Americans in trouble after several requests for help.

It is even more interesting why the president high-tailed it to Las Vegas the next morning to raise money for his re-election. There is still a lot to come.

Days after the event, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, went on several TV talk shows to deny that terrorism had nothing to do with the deaths, blaming the tragedy on a mob of protesters reacting to a short, obscure movie insulting Mohammed.

The president even stated the same false information, seven times, to his audience at the U.N. Assembly.

Did I say this was an example of a cover-up? It is a possible example of the poorest cover-up, even worse than Watergate (there was no loss of life with Watergate).

No one has fessed up about the timeline of events. There is a difference between the CIA and the FBI versions.

To make matters worse, the attack was probably an act of war, because the attack was against an embassy on American soil. That would mean that the Marines, rather than the FBI, should have been the point investigators. They would have been more prompt with information. It appears that Obama wanted to delay an honest discussion of Benghazi until after the election.

Is this delay a risk to the United States? Was politics the motive for maneuvering Gen. David Petraeus? After all, Obama has been spiking the ball at "his" killing of Osama bin Laden that created the downfall of al-Qaida, which obviously is not true.

Obama, shortly after the election, announced that he has over 6,000 new regulations; most are anti-business. These regulations include more than 1.5 million acres of federal land to be taken off the available land for oil development, including part of Colorado, which would negatively affect the job market and the economic recovery of our state.

Can you believe Obama didn't know about those regulations before the election? Is this an act of politics? Did the delay hide the motive so it would not affect the election?

The Iranians attempted to shoot down an unarmed drone flying over international waters. This happened two days before the election, yet it was not told to the public until after the election. Security or politics? Even though the attack failed, is this an act of war?

Another example is the strange case of Gen. Petraeus. The general is, or was, involved romantically with a married woman, his biographer. A highly placed FBI agent, reportedly aware of the case, said the investigation began in August of this year.

The FBI apparently told Attorney General Eric Holder about the investigation of the CIA chief then. This is appropriate procedure.

Can you guess how long it would take Holder to tell the president that his chief of the CIA was under investigation?

If this is the case, that means that Mr. Obama knew about the potential security risk long before his "surprised" response on the day he disclosed the general's resignation, one day before Petraeus' letter of resignation.

Questions surround the timing of the resignation because it came just a few days after the election, and his resignation was just a couple of days before he was to testify before a congressional hearing about the timeline of the Benghazi murders including who gave what orders.

Are these events coincidences? When it comes to politics, I don't believe in coincidences. There is still a lot to come.

As for President Obama, after his "honorable" performance in the last election, I wouldn't believe a thing he says.

Dick Gustafson, of Vail, is a former two-term Eagle County commissioner.